# On the universality of anomalous scaling exponents of structure functions in turbulent flows

## TL;DR

This study measures velocity structure functions in a closed turbulent flow without Taylor-hypothesis and finds scaling exponents consistent with open flows, supporting the universality of turbulent scaling laws.

## Contribution

It provides new measurements of structure functions in a closed flow without Taylor-hypothesis, challenging previous non-universal findings.

## Key findings

- Scaling exponents up to 9th order match open flow values
- Supports the universality of turbulent structure function exponents
- Uses Stereo PIV to span a wide inertial range

## Abstract

All previous experiments in open turbulent flows (e.g. downstream of grids, jet and atmospheric boundary layer) have produced quantitatively consistent values for the scaling exponents of velocity structure functions. The only measurement in closed turbulent flow (von K\'arm\'an swirling flow) using Taylor-hypothesis, however, produced scaling exponents that are significantly smaller, suggesting that the universality of these exponents are broken with respect to change of large scale geometry of the flow. Here, we report measurements of longitudinal structure functions of velocity in a von K\'arm\'an setup without the use of Taylor-hypothesis. The measurements are made using Stereo Particle Image Velocimetry at 4 different ranges of spatial scales, in order to observe a combined inertial subrange spanning roughly one and a half order of magnitude. We found scaling exponents (up to 9th order) that are consistent with values from open turbulent flows, suggesting that they might be in fact universal.